John Henry Seymour
John Henry Seymour (1865-1907)
1907 Obituary [1]
JOHN HENRY SEYMOUR was born in Leeds on 31st October 1865.
His general education was received at Christ Church School, Leeds, and his technical education at the Holbeck Mechanics' Institute.
From 1882 to 1887 he served his apprenticeship at the works of Messrs. Kitson and Co., Airedale Foundry, and on its termination he remained with the firm as fitter and charge-hand in the erecting shop.
In 1895 he was appointed locomotive foreman on the Isle of Wight Central Railway.
Being an enthusiastic volunteer and export marksman he volunteered for service in South Africa on the outbreak of the war, where he remained for nearly two years assisting in the construction of railway deviations over the Vet, Zaud, and Vaal Rivers, and the erection of the East Hill Redoubt, Pretoria.
His position having been kept open for him during his absence, he returned to Newport in June 1901, and was then appointed locomotive, carriage and wagon superintendent of the same line.
This position he held until July 1905, when he left to take up a similar appointment under the Jamaica Government.
During the terrible earthquake which destroyed Kingston, Jamaica, on 14th January 1907, he was so severely crushed by the fall of the railway works that his death took place almost immediately, at the age of forty-one.
He became an Associate Member of this Institution in 1905.